5. inspiring quote
“… no matter how much knowledge is shared among team
members, it cannot enhance team performance unless it is
effectively applied”
- Choi et al. 2010 -
Empowering PM’s
ColruytGroup has a lot of PM’s.
They are supported by different initiatives: (next slide)
Knowledge centre
CenterOfExcelence and coaching
Forum with project managers to share experience and asking for feedback
PM-wanted tool (PM can choose the project to allign them with own interesses)
Projectfocus
Start of Projectfocus
It is an initiative by project team members for project team members (with a lot of benefits for the pm).
This initiative aims at increasing the common understanding throughout the whole project team.
What are we and what do we do? Well, we found our inspiration in a presentation of Jef Staes and his red monkeys. However, instead of the notion red monkeys being creative ideas, we consider certain employees to be red monkeys, spreading creative ideas, best practices, useful tips and experimental tools.We have created a network to gather these employees , to form a community of all kinds of functions and roles where we can actively engage in knowledge transfer . We also organize events in order to bring these people together as much as possible.
All project team members and project managers can reach out to this community to ask questions and stay up to date on practices.
Some tips and tricks are packaged in a fun way, through gamification:
There are a couple of reasons to use gamification:
boosts commitment
Project team members enjoy gamified elements such as earning points and leaderboards, because they make learning more enjoyable and drive participation.Already from childhood, we seem to have a competitive spirit. This seems embedded in ourselves, so why not use it. It keeps us alert.
motivation and goal tracking
People are intrinsically motivated by a need to accomplish goals, so they work towards them. It gives people a good feeling when they accomplish something/ when they reach their goal. It feeds the continuous hunger for recognition by others or oneself. Also a friendly competition can be a goal and motivates people.
knowledge retention
Spreading tips and tricks via gamification makes it more engaging and the level of information retention is increased. Project team members are much more likely to remember what they have been taught because they are more involved in the process. If you take a look at the learning retention rates, you see that gamification is somewhere around 50-75%. In any way substantially better than direct communication (lecture, reading or video).
promotes team building
Using gamification to enhance collaboration, communication, and knowledge-sharing between employees is achieved by providing them with an outlet to connect socially and contribute content.You can already work together with someone for some time, but you might not even know him. This could cloud your judgement on (inschatten) what he thinks, feels or how he will react on, for instance, a sudden scope change.
valuable feedback
Gamification allows you to get real-time feedback easily. For example, if you are using a very basic gaming component such as a leader-board after a quiz, the user immediately knows where they stand among their peers. Playing together and sitting together makes the opportunity to speak up.
Two games (created at ColruytGroup):
Speak Up and Dilemma
Speak Up
Speak up is a game about active listening. This game brings up what lies underneath.The goal of the game is to find out why your project team members react on a certain change. You don’t play against each other, but with each other.
There is always somebody who guides the game. Some kind of mentor and referee. This person ensures that the rules are respected and that the active listening can take place.
Active listening is a key-word that fits the game. (actually it is even some kind of training in active listening and it is considered the most important leadership skill for any project). The mentor will pay attention to words and behavior and will point them out to the team when relevant. All team members will have to let everybody express themselves without interruptions. This requires self-discipline, keeping our own emotions in check and not taking things personally.
To learn the basics this game there is an exercise scenario about a restaurant. And that is what will play today. Afterwards, teams can bring to the table real life cases regarding ongoing projects.
Dilemma
Dilemma is a discussion game. It is about how far can we go? How much responsibility can we take? What maturity do we have? Can we take a risk? All the while hidden in form of a quiz…
You'll work in small groups and you'll get a digital playboard. You'll have to turn cards. Behind those card there could appear randomized questions or dilemmas. In your group you'll have to choose an answer. You can gain points, but also loose points. We'll have a scoreboard here to see how good you'll be doing compared with other groups.
Result: message on attitude is discussed afterwards, in our case it was to promote a more proactive attitude among employees (as study had shown this was a necessary change to promote)